Home, Sweet, Home!

On the 17/02/2023 I left Sydney on what was suppose to be a straight forward Sydney to Townsville road trip 

My partner had two weeks notice of a litter of hunting puppies up for adoption which he was only going to get if I extended my trip to include travelling to Melbourne first. 

'Oh No' I exclaimed as the opportunity to explore more presented a rare opportunity I didn't think I was going to get for at least 5 years. So I offered to drive to Melbourne to pick hubby up from the airport, drive him to Shepparton then drop him off at the airport with the puppy a few days behind him.

So on the 17/02/2023 I left Sydney and arrived in Melbourne on the 27/02/2023 after a wonderful coastal drive collecting as much art as I could. 

I became sick in Sydney and took a week or so to recover. 

I left Sydney on the 19/03/2023 and took the far Eastern route out of VIC to complete the Silo Art Trail before spending a night with the in-laws in Mathoura NSW. 

On the 23/02/2023 I left Mathoura to make my way back to Sydney. I wrestled with the decision to start at my original starting point, pre Melbourne detour, or to drive directly North for a more direct route but in the end I really wanted to see Bilpins BIG Pie and so the decision to start at the beginning won.

I began my Sydney to Townsville road trip officially on the 24/03/2023. 36 days after I was originally suppose to leave and I had seen Hubby for maybe 2 days during this time.

I spent a week exploring the guts of NSW before travelling back to Newcastle and taking the coast North to the boarder of NSW / QLD. Cutting West before the boarder and hitting QLD in Stanthorpe so I could see the BIG Apple. 

A few days later, on the 13/04/2023, I had arrived in Brisbane.

Originally, I only intended to stay in Brisbane for 7 days. 4 days to spend with my sister in law and nephews and 3 days to explore the city.

We drove to Toowoomba the first day and did a giant walk around the town. I did spend three days exploring the city which was a rather forced effort. I didn't do as much as I had originally planned but due to general fatigue and wear I settled for the bare minimum and accepted my disappointment with grace.

I had to force myself to leave Brisbane.

I said goodbye after what I thought was 8 days only to be told I had been there for twelve. I didn't believe them but after reviewing some time stamps today my first photo leaving Brisbane was captured on the 25/04/2023. 

I estimated my Brisbane to Townsville leg was going to take me 14 days. Looking at the content the day I left and deduced I'd likely get ahead of schedule. During planning I accounted for the hotter weather slowing me down and I  made my days less content heavy to give myself the scope to move slower.

The weather was beautiful. No where near as hot as I'd anticipated. Energy was up and by day five I was three days ahead of schedule. I threw away my day by day planner and simply did as much as I was comfortable with. My planned camping stops went out the window due to this and I found myself sleeping in my car a lot which, in the end, was more comfortable than my swag.

I arrived in Townsville two days ago. Five days ahead of schedule as I didn't require any rest days and was pretty eager to get home. I skipped two towns that became bothersome to get too and held off on completing any content within 5 hours of Townsville to give me something to do for the next three years. 

My entire trip took 77 days. 

Highlights

The biggest highlight is most definitely getting to explore mid NSW. I brought a long sleeved shirt in Lightning Ridge designed by John Murray and had numerous compliments on my trip when I wore it.

Catching up with Debbie & Henry Kumar, another explorer with a passion for BIG things and Australiana. 

Getting to know my new car.  I brought her a few months before leaving Sydney as I wasn't confident my Jackaroo would make it and she performed beautifully. Never skipped a beat and never caused me any grief. 

My sister-in-law is a beauty therapist and she gave me a facial at her house while I was in Brisbane. I've since brought all the products she used on me as my face felt oh, So soo soft afterwards. I've never taken an interest in skincare or makeup but this trip has really had me flourish. I've since visited a Sephora store and brought most of Selina Gomez' Rare Beauty products which I've been quite enthralled with.

After arriving home I learnt my car rego had expired two days prior to my arrival. I'm not sure how I escaped police detection but very grateful to avoid a ker-fluffel.


Lowlights

I had a Highway patrol flash their lights at me while driving 80 in a 60 roadwork zone. I don't think they bothered to turn around and pursue me as there were no workers present.

I also passed a roadwork zone with a set of temporary traffic lights. It instructed me to stop on a red light. It was blinking orange. I didn't quite know what this meant so I preceded on this one lane road only to be confronted with two oncoming cars.

I brought a new swag on the road and despite seasoning it before use it began to leak on me. A week before getting home I also left the swag poles at a camp site which I'll need to replace at some point 



I look forward to spending the next few days sorting photos and beginning some uploads.